NEIL BLACKMORE – THE INTOXICATING MR LAVELLE

I read this novel in advance of publication through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I suppose I could review this novel in just two words. Read it! Or perhaps three, if I added Brilliant! But, I’m guessing, being that succinct isn’t particularly helpful.

For me, this novel was a joy from beginning to end: I couldn’t wait to start another chapter and follow their adventures. They being two naïve brothers in their early twenties, Edgar and Benjamin, be-wigged and beauty-spotted, about to start their Grand Tour of Europe as devised by their beloved but cold mother. Set in 1763 - and you’d be right in assuming I wasn’t alive in those days to know the accuracy of the author – it is narrated by Benjamin as though he wrote his adventures at the time, and they have only recently been discovered. You feel you are right there, with the smells and tastes, the attitudes of Society and society, some of which, unfortunately, still prevail. It is fascinating too to witness 1700’s London, often meadows and bogs back then, with many of today’s familiar landmarks under construction.

The story primarily concerns the relationship between the first-person narrator Benjamin, and his meeting with the flamboyant and outspoken Mr Horace Lavelle: a young man who is physically beautiful, charming, maddening, grotesque, manipulative, fool-hardy and wreck less and who sweeps the innocent Benjamin clean off his feet. You don’t have to wait long for the inevitable fall-out as they clash first with Society and then with society.

I am not going to reveal what happens, as it would spoil the story for the potential reader, and inevitably contain spoilers. No doubt there are people in society today who would be appalled by their behaviour, as people were in the 1700s, and if so, this book isn’t for you. But for anyone who wants a witty, brilliantly written novel which grabs you and draws you into the centre of its beating heart, this is a totally engrossing read.

I was sad when it ended.

Fantastic queer historical fiction. The focus is strongly on the character growth and interaction but the period provides an excellent and glittering setting. Highly addictive and occasionally just a tiny bit horrifying. Loved it.

I do love historical fiction and the promise of a book set around high society in the 1700s including a Grand Tour of Europe really appealed.

This novel follows twins Edgar and Benjamin Bowen as they attempt to ingratiate themselves into high society by making connections on a Grand Tour. The narrator, Benjamin, is a much more reluctant participant on this quest than his brother but, armed with their mother's guide book of Europe and their extensive education, off they go. It's only when they get to Paris that they realise they aren't ever going to be accepted - a revelation about their family history and society's snobbishness about their business background see to that. Then Benjamin meets the eponymous Mr Lavelle and his world is turned upside down by the experiences of first love.

This is well written and an engaging read. Although Horace Lavelle is irritating and infuriating (a kind of pretentious Sebastian Flyte figure), the book is more about Benjamin and his maturation away from the suffocating influence of his mother. I'd have liked a bit more historical colour to the book personally - a lot of the characters felt quite modern and the settings undeveloped, but I can't really put my finger on why I felt this.

Overall, this is an engaging and well paced read. The experiences of an intoxicating first love affair are well portrayed and the book certainly raises some ideas for further reflection. The sense of the persecution of gay men in that historical period is shocking and certainly makes the reader think about how far society has come since then: sadly, not as far as we should have.

Sadly this book was not for me, though I appreciate the chance to read and review it.
The two Bowen brothers embark on a Grand Tour of Europe, with high hopes of finding their 'rightful' place in high society.
I found the characters too many, too complicated. Nevertheless I appreciate it was well written.

Weirdly, this is the second book I’ve read within a couple of weeks with a character called Mr Lavelle. What are the chances?

London 1763, and brothers Edgar and Benjamin Bowen, sons of a Welsh-born shipping merchant, are setting out on a “Grand Tour” of Europe. Their ambitious and well read mother, Rachel, who has drilled them in philosophy and history, wants them to experience Culture and associate with People of Quality. Edgar hopes to meet pretty girls, but Benjamin already knows he prefers boys, though he has little context for this knowledge other than dark rumours of sodomites, hung for their transgressions.

Of course, the People of Quality, once met, turn out to be anything but, steeped in snobbishness, hypocrisy and entitlement. Edgar is happy to immerse himself in their world, but Benjamin knows they remain outsiders who will only ever be looked down on for their origins.

Then he meets Horace Lavelle. Young Mr Lavelle is delightful, subversive, damaged, unpredictable, charming, ferocious, seductive, respectful of nothing.... He’s rather irritating, in fact, but Benjamin is instantly beguiled, and soon deeply in love. But there’s no easy life for a gay man in the 1700s, and Benjamin’s relationship with Lavelle will have devastating effects. What will it cost for him to be true to his own feelings?

The setting was fascinating and original; I’ve never read a novel about gay life in the 1700s before - not that the words gay or homosexual are ever mentioned, of course. There are other terms for men like Benjamin and Lavelle. Benjamin moves in a society where men wear wigs, powder and beauty spots but being gay - or Jewish, or anything other than impeccably aristocratic - is beyond the pale. Mr Lavelle is a catalyst for chaos, effortlessly skewering pretension and hypocrisy wherever he finds it. (Everywhere.)

Rather like the man himself, The Intoxicating Mr Lavelle is fascinating, compelling, and ultimately very, very angry.

Brothers Benjamin and Edgar Bowen embark upon a grand tour of Europe - planned by an ambitious mother - to enjoy the books, art and philosophy but most of all to make friends with the quality. But Benjamin isn't as confident as Edgar when it comes to introducing himself, that is until he meets Horace Lavelle, who's beautiful, charismatic and seductive.
This book wasn't what I thought it was but I really enjoyed it.
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

It's the 1790s and Benjamin and his brother Edgar find themselves on the Grand Tour of Europe, a journey into society pushed upon them by their parents. It's also a journey into their family history, societal acceptance, and for Benjamin, the discovery of sex.

Light and entertaining.

Despite some misgivings about what initially seemed stereotypical about a gay man's flamboyant attractions, this settled into a real exploration of self- awareness and reception of what appears to have been taken as 'Gay' life in a young naive man's life - newly awakened to his own attractions. Atmosphere and time and place are rendered persuasively and I was gripped to read on and find out what would transpire in our young man's new life. Adept and well rendered - highly recomment.

Brothers Benjamin and Edgar embark on a Grand Tour, but soon find their station in life – as sons of a shipping merchant – a barrier to progress. In Paris, they discover their ambitious mother’s secret past and Benjamin falls under the spell of the louche Henry Lavell.

The pages bristle with rage at social inequality, bigotry and homophobia. There are also some poignant moments, such as Benjamin shunning his fellow-passengers on his return to England, and his recognition of the way the dead become hallowed in their survivors’ minds. A mother clutching her baby while inciting the crowd to kill Benjamin and Henry was a wonderfully caustic moment and reminded this reader of news footage of the miners’ strike in Thatcherite Britain.

While Benjamin’s character is fully formed, those around him remain shadowy. The Quality (the elite) are stereotypes. Even with the intoxicating agent of chaos that is Mr Lavell, we are hard-pressed to understand Benjamin’s attraction.

The dialogue is a strange brew of contemporary and faux-eighteenth century. Edgar’s postcards home read like he’s at summer camp (‘Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah, Here I am at Camp Granada…’).

Blackmore should give his readers more credit. Instead, he over-explains, as in Benjamin’s simplification of the quote by Suetonius. However, the switches between referring to a character as ‘mother’ and ‘Rachel’ are confusing.

My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin (UK) Publishing for the ARC.

Exhilarating and fascinating, with the themes brilliantly explored and the research lightly worn. Can't wait for this to come out.